As the number of small, portable, electronic devices in daily use have multiplied, so too have the devices used to charge the batteries of these devices. Each new device seems to arrive from the store with a recharging unit, or “brick,” in the sales package.
Many modern portable electronic devices are capable of processing data. There are even complete personal area networks comprised entirely of devices that are solely powered by internal batteries.
Such useful devices are commonly found in use by those travelling in the employment of technology concerns. Engineers in high tech often find themselves working in a hotel room with an array of devices, such as a laptop computer, a printer, a scanner and sometimes a cellular phone, all linked together into a personal area network and connected to the internet. Frequently, the same devices that can be linked together by data cables need to link to utility power through their respective recharging units. The result of this need is the requirement that the travelling “road warrior” carries an ever enlarging array of recharging units and cables.
Most modern computers are capable of communicating with peripheral devices by use of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard. The USB offers both high speed serial data communication between a wide variety of peripheral and communicating devices as well as a power connection for some devices. Since some portable devices, such as personal data assistants, can accept power through the same USB port through which they communicate to a host computer, a number of devices have begun to emerge with recharging units that recharge through a USB-type port and the devices data cable. However, these devices require a specific recharging unit for each unit being recharged and, when using this system, cannot simultaneously be in communication via the same cable.
Prior art FIG. 1 illustrates a situation encountered often by the modern technology user. A user of more than one modern electronic device currently needs a separate device for powering and recharging the internal battery of each of the necessary devices in use. Laptop computer 101, for example, requires power supply 111 and its associated cable. Portable handheld computer 105, which here can also mean a personal data assistant (PDA), requires power supply and cable 115. Cellular phone 106 requires charger 116 and calculator 107 requires charger 117. Even electric razor 108 can have an internal, rechargeable, battery and thus require recharger 118. The result of the need for multiple power supplies, especially when travelling, is a tangle of cables and an array of power supplies whose population equals the number of useful devices carried and used.
What is required is an apparatus or system that can reduce the need for multiple charging systems in a suite of portable electronic devices. Such an apparatus should be able to charge a wide variety and large number of electronic devices and should use existing mechanical and electrical hardware to a large extent.